this seems like fairly standard practice to me... especially for someone that was a principal/partner of the firm... as long as they are making note of the fact that the work was done by the individual during previous employment then i don't have a problem with it... it may be different if they were an intern that just worked on the cds, but if they were the partner-in-charge then they have every right to show the work...

let's look at it another way... say the person in question was the lead designer and/or principal-in-charge on every major project that your firm has done for the last 10 years... now he works somewhere else and your firm no longer has his expertise... why should you get to show the work as your own but he not have any right to it???

this is a task for the AIA ethics board and the state registration board. Give them a both a call with all the details including the terms of separation.

AIA ethics rules states:
* A Member taking credit for a project or a specific role on a project other than as the Architect-of-Record must clearly define that role. In addition to the Member’s specific role, the Architect-of-Record must be acknowledged.

* It is not necessary to present a complete or exhaustive list of all the team participants. The acknowledgement of major team participants is recommended.

* Designation of the Member’s role and/or the Architect-of-Record must be obvious, plainly visible, and legible at the anticipated viewing distance. The reference text should be no less obvious that the text used to describe the project. The description must be specific enough to make clear the services the Member rendered on this project. In the instance of a mailer/postcard that shows only an image of a project on the front, it is necessary to give the appropriate credit on the other side. The Member shall not overstate, actually or implicitly, his/her involvement in a project.

* If attribution of credit is not previously defined in a written agreement, and to avoid potential conflict, it is recommended that Members open a dialogue between all concerned parties prior to making any representations.


Of course you have to be a member of the AIA to care about these rules.


It is also worth contacting an intellectual property lawyer about their use of proprietary copyrighted images (you did file for the copyrights)- a simple cease and desist letter make get them to remove the offending images. Or you can ask them to pay for the use of them with the condition that they clearly state what firm actually designed the project - that way you get some $$$ and free marketing. If your market is so small, get known for that project, so that the public starts questioning what the other firm is doing making that claim.

I recall this is one of the most common ethics complaint.

It's not unusual for firms to list projects that their principals and key staff worked on at other firms. But it's important that everywhere that these projects are mentioned they're properly notated as having been done by a particular staff member while employed by (or owner or principal of) another firm.
They can use photos of the project taken by their own photographer (assuming that the project owner allowed these photos to be taken, or they were taken from a public location like the street or sidewalk, and that the person was involved in the parts of the project that are depicted in the photos, and that that it is noted that these projects are from another firm, as noted above...)

Whether or not your firm's renderings or photos can be used depends on what sort of agreement you had with that person about taking and using photos and images from your firm. The AIA's position on this is that departing employee's do have a right to representative photos and drawings of project on which they worked - though it is up to the firm to decide which specific images and drawings the employee may have, and the firm may also charge the departing employee a reasonable fee for plotting, photo copies, etc. If the employee did not discuss with your firm which images he was taking then you can prohibit him from using them (basically he stole them). But if your firm was aware that he was taking these images with him then it's more difficult to limit their use after the fact. If you didn't tell him in writing that he couldn't use them for marketing purposes then you may have a problem preventing it at this point.

If this other firm is not properly noting that these projects were completed by another firm, or if the employee is using images that he didn't have permission to take, then it should be pretty simple to get your attorney to write a cease and desist letter to the other firm.

The biggest problem I see is with saying the work was done "while with another firm" without noting that firm's name. In other words, it seems they need to fully state your current firm's name in order to give proper credit to the Architect of Record.

And legalities aside: it stinks. Putting the project on a proposal cover, IMO, goes too far.

i'd agree with that LB... putting the project on the cover is probably not kosher...

i will say that as an owner's rep i tend to give these types of projects less weight in reviewing proposals... in fact i was just in a consultant selection committee meeting yesterday in which i saw this exact situation a couple of times...

for a pretty high profile case of this check out the website of adrian smith + gordon gill... adrian was the lead design principal at som chicago for a long time and just started his own firm last year... the website includes a portfolio of the firm's own projects and a portfolio of projects that the partners completed while at som...

given that the guy in question was a partner and that he presumedly had some ownership stake in the firm i would think that there would have been some pretty extensive legal wrangling involved in dissolving the partnership... the reuse of images and projects should have been covered by that...